Dealing with Asbestos in Orange County Public Schools*

All but one of Orange County's twenty-eight school districts have (encapsulated) asbestos present at one or more its schools. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. Each school district keeps records on its own facilities and whether its facilities have encapsulated asbestos. We have no knowledge of the status of facilities in other school districts and, therefore, cannot verify the accuracy of the Grand Jury's findings.

Although current EPA standards provide that encapsulated asbestos does not present an immediate hazard to people who come near it, any physical disturbance and/or weathering which damages that encapsulation and releases asbestos fibers into the air will present an immediate hazard to anyone exposed to those fibers. Hence, broad- based awareness of where encapsulated asbestos is located is essential to avoid disturbing it such that it does become a threat to students and staff. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees partially with this finding. Broad-based awareness of where encapsulated asbestos is located may lead to vandalism thereby putting school district facilities, employees and students at risk. Certainly, employees of the school district need to be aware of where asbestos is located but we disagree that members of the public need to know as this may create safety and security concerns. Brea Olinda Unified School District agrees that encapsulated asbestos does not pose a health hazard to the public. A large disturbance would be required to create a possible health hazard. Brea Olinda Unified School District One Civic Center Circle • Brea, California 92821-3181 • 714.990.7800

Many school districts are not in full compliance with the AHERA regulatory requirement to have applicable AHERA reports available in the main offices of each school for public review. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. Our school district is in compliance with AHERA regulations. Our AHERA report is available for public review at our district office and at each of our schools in compliance with AHERA regulations, 40 C.F.R. section 763.80 et seq. We have no knowledge of compliance or non- compliance by other school districts and, therefore, cannot verify the accuracy of the Grand Jury's findings.

Many school districts are not in full compliance with the AHERA regulatory requirement to identify at each school in their district a "Designated Person" and to train each Designated Person to EPA-defined standards. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. Our school district is in compliance with AHERA regulations and has a designated person at the district level. The AHERA regulations do not require a trained designated person at each school. We have no knowledge of compliance or non-compliance by other school districts and, therefore, cannot verify the accuracy of the Grand Jury's findings.

Although nearly all school districts train their facilities and maintenance staff on hazardous materials management, many fail to provide hazardous materials training to their teaching and administrative staff. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. Our school district has trained maintenance staff and other staff as mandated by AHERA regulations.

Orange County public schools are subject to very infrequent EPA inspections for AHERA compliance. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. We do not control the frequency of EPA inspections nor can we make an assessment as to whether inspections are frequent or infrequent.

Inadequately managed construction efforts at more than one Orange County public schools have led to expensive and disruptive hazardous materials events. Many Orange County school districts lack one or more documented requirements for contracting for construction that implement generally recognized best practices for dealing with hazardous materials. Such written best practices include: Brea Olinda Unified School District One Civic Center Circle • Brea, California 92821-3181 • 714.990.7800 Performing all work at schools that deals with, or potentially deals with, a. hazardous materials at times when students and staff are not present, b. Controlling the scope of construction/modernization/major repairs undertaken in any one year to remain within the district's ability to manage the efforts, c. Separately contracting for hazardous materials inspection, abatement, and construction work once hazardous materials are abated, d. Including clear schedule performance requirements in every contract, e. Defining intermediate schedule milestones for all construction-related work that is expected to take over one month to complete, and f. Requiring monitoring by district senior staff of progress on construction work via personal walkthroughs of the work in progress. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. The Brea Olinda Unified School District manages its construction projects in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations and utilizes best practices. We are unaware of processes at other districts. Additionally, the Brea Olinda Unified School District does ensure removal of hazardous materials is performed by a licensed contractor and is isolated to ensure safety of both students and staff. A separate contractor is utilized to perform testing services to ensure removal of hazardous materials was properly completed.

Many school districts with public charter schools approved and financed by their district, lack, and have not provided their charter schools with, written definitions of the respective roles and responsibilities of the district and the charter school in dealing with, written definitions of the respective roles and responsibilities of the district and the charter school in dealing with hazardous materials and with AHERA regulatory compliance. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. Under state law, it is the responsibility of the independently run charter schools to manage their facilities and comply with AHERA regulations. The Grand Jury's finding is inconsistent with state charter school law. Additionally, Brea Olinda Unified School District does not have any public charter schools.

Many school districts rely on paper documents for recording key information such as facilities data, facilities construction and repair plans, and AHERA reports. Brea Olinda Unified School District One Civic Center Circle • Brea, California 92821-3181 • 714.990.7800 The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. The Brea Olinda Unified School District complies with AHERA regulations which require the maintenance of paper records. The Grand Jury's finding is inconsistent with federal law and AHERA regulations. Some school districts have no documented facilities plans, and many districts that have

plans lack key information in their plans such as estimated costs, funding sources, and schedules for work initiation and completion. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. The finding is vague as to the types of plans, key information, costs, funding sources, and schedules that The Brea Olinda Unified School District maintains plans and key are referred to. information in various forms depending on the nature of the project that is being considered. The Grand Jury's "one size fits all" approach without considering the nature, timing of project implementation, and size of the individual project is impractical, unreasonable, wasteful, and not required by law.

Many school districts fail to post key safety-related information on their web sites such as upcoming activities at school facilities involving the abatement of hazardous materials. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. Posting safety- related information on the school district's website as suggested by this finding may increase safety and security issues. Safety-related information is available at the district office.

Despite the fact that all Orange County school districts serve highly language-diverse communities, several districts have no provision for communicating with their community in any language other than English. The Brea Olinda Unified School District disagrees wholly with this finding. The Brea Olinda Unified School District complies with state law regarding the translation of documents provided to parents. Brea Olinda Unified School District One Civic Center Circle • Brea, California 92821-3181 • 714.990.7800